Category: Miles

  1. American Express has a few generic links for targeted new card offers meant for existing card holders:

    – Business Gold: 125,000 Membership Rewards after $15,000 spend in three months
    – Business Gold: 200,000 Membership Rewards after $15,000 spend in three months

    If you’re targeted for both, I hope it’s obvious which one you should chose [both]. (Thanks to SideShowBob233)
  2. Meijer stores have $10 off of $150+ in Visa or Mastercard gift cards through November 11, limit one per digital coupon. With the right liquidation channels this deal can be worth traveling to Meijerland even if you’re nowhere near.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards, though Meijer occasionally also sells Sunrise gift cards.
  3. Clear has a promotion for 5,000 bonus United MileagePlus miles for new memberships. Multiple Platinum cards with multiple players could make this worth your time, but you do you.

Happy Thursday!

SideShowBob233’s clown car runs into issues on its way to Mejierland.

  1. Do this now (if you have a pre-refresh Chase Sapphire Reserve card): Transfer all Ultimate Rewards from other accounts to your Sapphire Reserve account before Monday to make sure they’re eligible for 1.5 cents per point value on the Chase Travel portal. Points that show up after Monday aren’t eligible. UPDATE: Chase already started converting accounts as of October 25. In theory they’ll still work if earned or converted tomorrow, but I wouldn’t wait on it.
  2. On Tuesday we discussed mass shutdowns with Synchrony bank for those hitting dining promotions especially hard. Yesterday, Synchrony’s shutdown wave cast a much wider net and nearly all shutdown reports had seen floosie activity in the last six months. You do you, but if I were you and I’d been on the floosie bandwagon recently, I’d self-shutdown any remaining Synchrony cards.

    If you were shutdown by Synchrony, I’d also suggest applying again immediately for the same cards that were shutdown because #citigonnaciti (since I don’t have a synchrony hash tag) I guess.
  3. In April, American Express shut down quite a few churners for what turned out to be mostly related to third party payments routed through sketchy buyer’s groups. Yesterday, there was another mass wave for seemingly the same thing. If “miracle doctors and nurses” doesn’t mean anything special to you, you’re probably safe. If it does and you were involved, well, I hope you’ve self shutdown by the time you finish reading this post.
  4. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a 25% transfer bonus to Southwest Rapid Rewards, bringing your redemption value in the 1.4 cents per point through November 6.

    The major utility in Rapid Rewards bookings vs Chase Travel portal bookings is cancelability with refunds on all booking classes.
  5. JetBlue TrueBlue points can now be used to book United metal flights. Pricing is decidedly “sub-mean but within tolerance”.
  6. I hesitate to mention this because it’s gotten so much undue press, most of it written to feed the content monster, but if you’re always probing you should know there’s a new thing to probe: American Express Business Gold cards now have a $150 credit at Squarespace, a website builder platform and hosting provider, registration required.

    I guess this is a free way to own some variation of sideshowbob233wasrightallalong.com on American Express’s dime (which is really your non-incremental dime).

Have a nice weekend friends!

A sub-mean but still within tolerance bomb can still send a message.

  1. Do this now: Enroll in your targeted Q4 United MileagePlay promotion. Mine was 5,000 bonus miles with a single trip in a premium seat with a base airfare of $200+ booked and flown by December 22.
  2. Do this now: Register for Accor ALL’s Q4 promotion for 2x points on 2+ night stays in North America and Brazil.

    Don’t worry guys, they have an Accor in Bentonville that’s a combination museum and hotel for extra culture and complimentary night time haunting.
  3. Kroger stores have 4x fuel points earning on third party gift cards excluding Amazon and fuel gift cards today through Sunday.

    The resale market for BestBuy, Home Depot, and Apple gift cards remains strong, and the resale market for fuel points, uhhh, is still present.
  4. TheGiftCardShop.com has fee-free custom Visa and Mastercard gift cards with promo code SHOPEARLY25 through November 16. Its sister site MasterCardGiftCard.com has 50% off of purchase fees with the same promo code in case you’re more concerned about capacity than cost.

    These are Vanilla / Incomm gift cards.
  5. Stop & Shop, Giant, and Martins stores have 10x points on Zift Zillions gift cards through Thursday, and apparently there’s no limit on earn at Stop & Shop, but a limit on $2,000 spend at the other stores. Little brother Giant Food only earns 8x.
  6. The Celtic Bank Mesa Visa has a promotion for a free year of Instacart+ which stacks with Chase’s free memberships.

Have a nice weekend!

A combination museum and hotel’s night time lighting (I assume).

Background

The Wyndham Rewards program when tied with the Barclays Wyndham Business Earner Visa credit card used to be a heavyweight in terms of both earn and burn, but that’s changed due to:

– Continual Vacasa devaluations
– The loss of many Vacasa properties for points bookings
– The dwindling Vacasa footprint
– The loss of Caesar’s Diamond status matches

It doesn’t help that Wyndham points have a hard expiration of four years after earning regardless of account activity, so stuck points will eventually become forfeited points if you’re not careful.

The Way Out

United currently has a 25% bonus for incoming hotel points up to 25,000 total bonus miles, and Wyndham has a 100% transfer bonus for points transfers to United (registration required) through October 31. The regular transfer ratio is 5:1, and when you stack everything, it comes out to:

5 / 2 / 1.25 : 1 = 2 : 1
(or)
30,000 Wyndham → 15,000 United

Those United miles aren’t worth what they used to be, but they don’t expire and you’d probably rather not stay in an old Ramada next to a European airport anyway. Watch out on the Wyndham side though, based on the terms and conditions you may need to do each batch of transfers in a single transaction.

The Tweaks

The Wyndham Business Visa card still earns 8x at gas stations, so you’ve got an opportunity to earn 4x United miles (after conversion) at gas stations if you have the card. But, Wyndham to United transfers take a couple of weeks [UPDATE: Transfers are happening next day currently], so unless your Wyndham Business card statement closes in the next week or so, you may not be able to slide into the narrow window for United’s incoming transfer bonus, which would mean the you’d only get 12,000 miles for 30,000 Wyndham points, or 3.2x at gas stations.

My Action

Just because I’m doing something doesn’t mean you should to, in fact it probably means you shouldn’t. Anyhoodles, I’m sending all of my Wyndham points to United now, and I’m going to try and move my Wyndham statement closing date to next week and send everything new over before the deadline (Indiana Jones sliding under the concrete door style, but without all the leather). (Thanks to C-MontgomeryChurns)

Happy Wednesday!

The way out is easy, just follow the signs.

  1. The American Express Hilton cards have increased sign-up bonuses, though the increased bonuses don’t make up for recent devaluations:

    – Honors: 100,000 points after $2,000 spend in six months
    – Surpass: 155,000 points after $3,000 spend in six months
    – Aspire: 175,000 points after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Business: 175,000 points after $8,000 spend in six months

    These are available via referrals, use another player or another churner’s referral. Don’t apply head-on, make a churner’s day.
  2. It’s October transfer bonus time:

    – American Express 20% to AirFrance/KLM FlyingBlue through October 31
    – American Express 30% to Marriott Bonvoy through November 30
    – Chase 30% to British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia Avios through October 31
    – Chase 80% to IHG through October 31
    – United 30% incoming transfer bonus from hotels, registration required, through October 31 (Marriott becomes 60,000:35,000)

    Even with the transfer bonuses IHG is an awful value, and Marriott Bonvoy is of dubious value, though it does offer a roundabout way to convert Membership Rewards to United MileagePlus which after the two bonuses will shake out to 1,000:758 (let’s call this a 6-7).

  3. Royal Jordanian is selling a 12 month long membership to oneworld airline lounges status match to oneworld Sapphire (Gold Sparrow) for $149. You can match with status from most non-oneworld airlines. Oneworld Sapphire gets access to AA and Alaska lounges when flying domestically, including AA Flagship lounges.

    The IATA code for Royal Jordanian is RJ (fixed, thanks to Kevin), which believe me will be helpful to know if you’re trying to use this for US domestic lounge access.
  4. Meijer MPerks has a clipable coupon for $10 off of $150+ in Mastercards through Tuesday.

    Meijer sells both Sunrise and Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. The Chase Sapphire Reserve’s Pay Yourself Back categories for Q4 are grocery, gas, department stores, and annual fees for 1.25 cents per point. The “select charities” option at 1.5 cents per point is still around too.
  6. American Express Offers has lots of new offers:

    – Viator $30 statement credit with $300+ through October 31
    – Best Western $50 statement credit with $250+ through December 31
    – Marriott Brands (various): $200-$300 off of $500-$750+ through December 31

    Most things bookable on airbnb experiences are also bookable on Viator, so you may find organic opportunity on that one.
  7. The Barclays Lufthansa Miles&More Mastercard has an all time high tiered sign-up bonus of 50,000+20,000 miles after $3,000 spend in 90 days and $12,000 spend in the first year, respectively.

    There is a Swiss First niche where this card can make sense if you’re good at ignoring opportunity cost. Apropos of nothing, where are my FNBO JAL groupies at? (Thanks to pizza42bob)

Happy Thursday!

The Membership Rewards United backdoor, as a mug.

  1. The US Bank Triple Cash Rewards and Leverage business cards have heightened sign-up bonuses:

    – Triple Cash Rewards: $750 after $6,000 spend in 180 days, $0 annual fee (Thanks to Jason for the 180 day correction)
    – Leverage: $750 after $7,500 spend in 120 days, $95 annual fee

    Mini FAQ: Churnable? Yes. Both? Yes. Multiple? Yes. ASL? Ok boomer.
  2. There are now multiple confirmed private and public data points that the American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts credit refresh on September 18 is a new $300 second half of the year credit whether or not the earlier $200 annual credit was redeemed. So, either way you’ve got a fresh $300 in Fine Hotels and Resorts coupons credits.
  3. Citi ThankYou Points has two transfer bonuses:

    – Avianca Lifemiles: 25% through October 18
    – Virgin Atlantic: 30% through October 18
    – Turkish Miles&Smiles: 50% through October 18

    Make sure with both Lifemiles and Miles&Smiles that space is actually available before booking, both have issues with phantom award space or missing partner award space.
  4. American Express has a somewhat widely targeted bonus for 70,000 Membership Rewards or $700 credit. Requirements:

    – Deposit $15,000 in 30 days
    – Keep an average balance ≥ $15,000 for the next 60 days
    – Make five transactions (five $1 ACHs will do fine)

    Links: 70,000 Membership Rewards, alternate 70,000 Membership Rewards, $700 credit. (Thanks to DDG for the most recent link)

Happy Tuesday!

The secret code to booking Miles&Smiles phantom space: B, R.5, Z

  1. Celtic Bank’s Mesa Visa card has a heightened sign-up bonus for 50,000 bonus points after $12,000 spend with promo code SEPT50, no referral shenanigans required.

    Churners like the card for earning points on mortgage payments and sometimes “mortgage” payments, and for transfer partners like SAS EuroBonus and Air Canada Aeroplan.
  2. The Chase Aeroplan Visa has a heightened, tiered sign-up bonus:

    – 75,000 points after $4,000 spend in three months
    – 25,000 points after $20,000 spend in 12 months

    I did the math so you don’t have to, 75,000+25,000 = 100,000. You’re welcome.
  3. The Rove Miles shopping and travel booking portal has two transfer bonuses:

    – 20% to AirFrance / KLM FlyingBlue through December 31
    – 20% To Finnair Avios through October 22

    Rove often has good mileage earning through their shopping portal, but points also take 30-90 days to post so earning to use a transfer bonus like these can be challenging, that is unless you started earning 30-90 days ago.
  4. Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, and other Just4U stores have 10x points on Zift cards through Saturday.

    Some of these can be converted to Amazon or Home Depot gift cards.
  5. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday.

    These are Pathward / Black Hawk Network gift cards.

Happy Monday!

Flexing math skills even further.

  1. Do this now: Register for 5x rotating categories for Q4, 2025:

    – Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex: Old Navy, Chase Travel, Department Stores, (and PayPal in December)
    – Discover IT: Amazon.com and drug stores
    – Citi Dividend: Citi Travel and restaurants
    – US Bank Cash+: I choose utilities and electronics because reasons

    If Citi’s site is erroring for you, I mean (1) #citigonnaciti, and (2) try again in a few hours.
  2. Qatar Avios has a tiered incoming transfer bonus for Citi ThankYou points for up to a 40% bonus on 50,000+ points through October 15. Other programs are included too, but they’re either obscure or poor value.

    Avios transfer freely between partners, so this is effectively a 40% bonus on the other major Avios airline currencies too.
  3. The Primis Visa rewards debit card is transitioning to a 1% flat cash back rewards structure on October 17. And before you ask, yes that’s not how Primus is normally spelled.

Happy Tuesday!

Primis probably took over this credit onion’s parking lot.